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[angerona]

I need to keep reminding myself that child development or parenting should not be a competitive sport.

Comments

[aska13]

i just reminded that to myself yesterday:)

ржунимагу :))

[aregjan]

+100! :))

Jokes aside though...

[aite]

Maybe I'm a bit naive about it or haven't run into the super-conpetitive people yet, but I think that those aren't competitive sports if we don't treat them as such. As in, we have the power to define parenting in non-competitive terms and stick to that.

Re: Jokes aside though...

[ex_yzzzma459]

Agreed. If you are not competitive about child development you won't be bothered by other people bragging or measuring up. BUT if you are struggling to stop competing, some comments can be like smoke in an ex-smoker's face.

Re: Jokes aside though...

[aite]

We can hang around other reasonably relaxed parents and all enjoy each other's and our kids' company.

Re: Jokes aside though...

[angerona]

Of course. That's exactly what I'm saying: that I should keep myself from being drawn into the competiveness or feeling competitive.

[gmpe]

It feels like it is a competition- between the parents and the kids, and most days, the kids are winning. But yeah, I know what you mean.

[ex_marmir959]

I have a friend - every time she encounters one of those "my kid is a genius, he can recite the whole Onegin by heart" type comment, she just says calmly - "Really? That's nice. No, my daughter is not like that. She is just absolutely ordinary. Nothing extraordinary about her at all. I actually like it like that". It is always funny to then see the reactions of the "competitive" parents - they just don't know how to respond!

[angerona]

the kids are allowed to win, as long as we are playing board games :). But yes, I know what you mean, too.

[eska2]

I see it not so much from other parents of kids the same age, but from our parents! "You were already potty trained by 1" "He already knew the alphabet by 1.5" or "You didn't yet do that by 2"

[merilisa]

This was a recent conversation between a couple of my friends and me. It seems to be a common experience. My grandmother swore that my uncle was potty trained at six months and was gracefully walking at 9 months. My mother had to run to her pediatrician and make sure that I wasn't somehow delayed. I think it gets worse as the grandparents get older too.

[eska2]

I just tell my mom that if I had to hand wash diapers and hang them to dry over my bathtub, my son would have been potty trained ages ago. But since I get to just throw out the dirty diapers, I am in no hurry.

[merilisa]

Thank heavens for the age of the disposable diaper. I drive a prius and I try to make environmentally responsible choices, but I have decided that disposable diapers are the price the earth has to pay for having another fine member of society toddling on its surface.